Cadets fighting for the World Title in Chile this week

Khasan Khalmurzaev is one of the best examples for the cadets. The Russian Olympic champion became Cadet World champion in 2009 and won the Olympic title 7 years later. This is a normal time for a junior to grow to world level, for a cadet it’s extremely fast. Naohisa Takato and Ami Kondo were also Cadet World champions who both won the Senior World title.

Top athletes like Beka Gviniashvili, Miku Tashiro, Mikhail Igolnikov, Irina Dolgova, Jessica Klimkait, Szabina Gercsak, Marie Eve Gahie and Daria Bilodid shone as cadets on the World stage. Some of these World Championships converted their cadet careers into a Junior World titles and won Continental Senior medals and medals on the IJF World Tour. That’s the level to which the current cadets aspire.

For those fighting in Chile this week, the Cadet World Championships are an important milestone. It will be the biggest competition of their young careers to date. Many of the athletes will be testing their mettle against the world’s best for the first time. It will be the fifth edition of the World Championships, held for the first time in 2009 in Budapest, where in August the Senior World Championships take place.

In 2013, Canada was produced two World Champions: Louis Krieber Gagnon and Jessica Klimkait. Both are now going to the World Championships in Budapest. Coach Jean-Pierre Cantin, who heads the development program for cadet-aged athletes, believes the team is in a good position to bring home several medals again. “We expect to see very good results. I took over the team two years ago, just before the cadet world championships. We weren’t well-prepared and our overall results didn’t meet my expectations. This time, we’ve had two years to prepare and we’ve implemented a system for helping our athletes gain experience. We’ll be in our element this time around,” he explained.

At the Cadet Pan-American Championships, Canada placed second in the rankings, behind Brazil. “We performed very well and proved that we have a good, cohesive team,” Cantin said.

Already mentioned Daria Bilodid (14) was one of the youngest ever world champions with Sara Asahina (14) and Mikhail Igolnikov (14). Japan is by far the most successful nation in this age class. Check the best countries at cadet level. “I expect that our athletes may feel a little daunted when the Japanese team shows up. For some of them, it will be their first encounter with that team. But once they’re out on the tatamis, they’ll realize that they’re just judokas, like everyone else. It will provide them with invaluable experience,” noted Cantin.